Festival gets behind the scenes boost

Busselton's premier film festival has been buoyed by the addition of a board member equipped with vast experience in television and film production, including at the helm of two of Australia’s peak State-based industry agencies.

Tania Chambers joined her first CinefestOz board meeting this week since accepting the role, having returned to WA after a five-year tenure as chief executive of Screen NSW.

Before her relocation to Sydney, she also headed Screen West for six years.

Chambers said she was a firm advocate for boosting the prospects of film production and appreciation outside metropolitan areas and believed the event had potential to expand into a world-class “destination festival” and reach the next generation of filmmakers.

“I’ve always been really passionate about talent not being in the centre,” she said.

“WA tends to look to Asia rather than Sydney or Melbourne and that’s really interesting from a business point of view as it’s where a lot of the growth is going to be.

“WA is a fantastic place to live so long as you remain connected nationally and internationally.”

Chambers, who was also working as a producer, looked forward to drawing on her networks and enticing more lateral thinkers to contribute to an already ambitious CinefestOz team.

She said the festival was connected to the community in an exciting way.

“Once you have stars here and great directors, writers and producers, the knock-on effect of that is quite remarkable.”

Chairman David Barton said Chambers’ vibrant, positive energy together with a “producer and legal mind of her calibre” would add another dimension to the skill set behind the scenes.